Anything But That
by keket1976
Summary: <html><head></head>A conversation on the way back to the dorm. (short, standalone piece, set after season 1, bumblebee, Blake x Yang)</html>


**RWBY** - Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long  
>Placed sometime after the first season.<br>**RWBY **is owned by someone who is not me.

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><p><strong>Anything But That<strong>  
>by keket1976<p>

"Yang?" Blake sighed. "Yang!"

Sleepy lilac eyes glanced up from a textbook that had been open to the same page for the last thirty minutes. "Hmm?"

"Why don't we head back to the dorm?"

"Huh? Why? What time is it?" Yang swiveled in her chair and craned her neck to look up at the library clock. "Oh. Right. Sure," she mumbled.

Blake gathered her things and stood.

"Where's Rubes? And Weiss?" Yang asked as she hurried to catch up to, and stay in step with, her teammate.

"They left about an hour ago."

Yang gave her a quizzical look. "Why didn't they say anything?"

"They did."

"Oh."

They left the library behind and had walked in silence for several minutes, with only the sound of their boots scuffing the ground and the occasional cricket chirping, to accompany them.

"Yang? We're suppose to be partners, right?" Blake stopped abruptly in the middle of the walkway - causing Yang to nearly collide with her shoulder - just short of the nearest circle of light.

"Yup," she answered automatically, before recognizing the odd hesitation in the Faunus' words. She turned to face Blake directly. "Of course we are. Why would you ask me that?" She tilted her head slightly, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Well, we promised each other that if something was wrong we'd tell the team-"

"What? Why? Did Ruby say something to you? Did she ask you to ask me something?"

Blake took a deep breath at the unexpected, rapid-fire questions. "No. Ruby hasn't said anything. I was just worried."

"About me?" Yang's brows knit together in confusion.

"Yes."

"You were?" The fiery blonde's voice softened and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"You've been... quiet." Blake had wanted to say 'sad' or 'distant' or maybe even 'lost' but she wasn't entirely sure those were the right words.

"Hey, I can be quiet!"

Blake snorted derisively.

"Compared to Ruby I'm practically mute. Well, no, that'd be you. I'm average. Normal. I'm normal. And also babbling. Which... Okay... Isn't normal. Nothing's wrong though. Okay?"

A single, fine, dark eyebrow rose towards Blake's hairline.

"I've just been thinking," Yang continued, with a shrug.

Blake's other eyebrow rose to meet the first and begged the question; 'Thinking about what?'

"S-stuff?"

Even the cricket that chirped in the ensuing silence knew that was lame.

"Fine." Yang groaned. "I've been thinking about... well... about you. Okay?"

"M-me?"

Suddenly Yang was blushing and ducking her head but Blake was too startled to notice.

"What about me?"

Instead of answering, Yang abruptly started walking again. And, after a moment's hesitation, Blake hurried to catch up.

"Wait!" Blake grabbed her teammate's arm and pulled her to a stop again. "Did I do something wrong? Is it because I'm... you know? It is, isn't it? I knew it! I knew you were taking the whole thing too well-"

"What? No!" Yang's eyes widened in horror at the desolate look her friend was trying so hard to hide. "No. No, never. It's not like that. At. All."

"Then what?"

Yang hesitated. "Your bow."

"Sorry?"

"I just wish you didn't feel like you have to hide who you are."

"Oh."

"I mean... I understand. I just wish that around me - us - you'd feel like you could be yourself." When nothing but silence greeted Yang's statement she took a deep breath and turned to continue the trek back to the dorm. After a long moment she heard the clack of Blake's boots on the cobblestones as she hurried to catch up.

It wasn't until they reached the building's doors that Blake finally broke the silence.

"Tell me something?"

Yang's hand stopped just short of the doorknob. She turned, looked at her friend, and said sincerely; "Anything."

"If you had a secret would you tell me?"

Startled lilac eyes blinked several times as Yang's arm dropped to her side. She looked away. "Only if I knew that the people I cared about wouldn't hate me for it."

"When you tell me your secret, I'll stop wearing this bow." She touched Yang's shoulder. "Deal?"

But Yang pulled away and said nothing as she yanked open the doors and hurried inside and upstairs to their room. How could she say anything when her throat was tight and her chest ached? How could she tell Blake her secret when she didn't want to admit it. Even to herself?


End file.
